Hoisting machine



1623147 April 1927 A. H. WILSON HOISTING MACHINE Filed y 10, 1926 2Sheets- Sheet '1 I Apr 1l 5, A. H. wlLsoN HOISTINQ MACHINE 2Shoots-Sheet z tymab.

Patented Apr. 5, 1927.

UNITED STATES PAT ENT OF F I -CE.

ALEXANDER H. WILSON, F oAK PARK, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 THOMAS ELEVATORCOMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, n CORPORATION or ILLINOIS.

I-IOISTING MACHINE.

Application filed May 10,

This invention relates to hoisting machines, having reference moreparticularly to machines of the type designed for use in buildingoperations to elevate building material to the several floors of abuilding underconstruction. More specifically, the'invention relates tothat type of building material hoists which employ a pair of liftsoperated by a single cable so as to have alterio nating service andreturn movements, and equipped withboth automatic and manual controls.

In an. application filed by me on July 20, 1925, Serial No. 414,672, Ihave disclosed a hoisting machine of the above noted type; and oneobject of my present invention is to provide an improvement on themachine of the said application. More specific objects are, to providean improved automatic stop mechanism for effecting the arrest of theloaded lift at the desired story which, by a very simple and quickadjustment, may be made to operate at either the top story or anyintermediatestory, and to provide an automatic stop mechanism which willbe free from all danger of overthrow;that is, will arrest the risingmovement of the loaded lift without also reversing the direction ofmovement of the hoisting cable. 3 Other objects and attendant advantagesof the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the art as thesame becomes better understood from the following detailed description,taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein I haveillustrated a practical and approved embodii'nei'it of the invention,and in which Fig. 1 is a fragmentary broken elevation of the lifts orcages and their supporting and guiding means and detent mechanism,showing also my improved auton'iatic stop mechanism, as viewed from theleft of Fig. 8;

Fig. 2 is a fragmei'itary elevation ofthe automatic detent mechanism;

F ig. 3 is a central vertical section, taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view;

Fig.'5 is a horizontal section on the line 55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is alongitudinal section, on the line 6+6 of Fig. 7, ofthestriker adjustable on and lengthwise of the hoisting cable;

Fig. 7 is a. horizontal section, on the line 7--7 of Fig. 6,of the saidstriker.

1926. Se'ria1 No.,107,8 37.

Referring to the drawings, and 'firstbrief ly describing structuralfeatures of-an elevator of this type which are commonpractice, '10 and10 designate two pairs of vertical upri hts erected side by side andconstituting guides for a pair of lifts or cages 11, 11, respectively.The cage-supporting and guidingframeis mounted. on a base (not shown)commonly rested on the basement floor of the building; and the upperends of the uprights 10 andlO arerigidly connectedand spaced by a pairof horizontal beams 12. J ournaled in bearings 13 on the beams 12 are apair of cable-supporting pulleys 14, 14, on corresponding faces of whichare mounted circular ratchets 15, 15. A single continuous hoisting cable16 is connected at one end to the upper cross-beam of the cage 11,extends thence over the pulley 14, thence downwardly and beneathan idlerpulley 17 (Fig. 3) at the'bottom ofthe frame, thence laterally of theelevator frame to and several times around the winding drum of ahoisting machine (not shown), thence back beneath a second idler pulleysimilar to the pulley l7, thenceupwardly and over the supporting pulley14, with its other end attached to the upper cross-bar of the cage 11;the length of the'cable being such that when one cage is in its lowestposition the other cage will beat the highest position required bythecondition of the work. Thehoisting machine for operating the hoistingcable 16 includes, in addition to the winding drumreferredto,.clutch-controlled mechanism for rotating the winding drum in eitherdirection, and brake mechanism for locking the winding drum againstrotation in a neutral position when it is out of clutch with both itsdriving mechanisms; a hoisting machine of this type being disclosed inmy former Letters Patent herein: above referred to.

In the aforesaid hoisting machine,the clutch shifter controlling theopposite drives and the neutral position of the winding drum is itselfactuated by a rotatable cam fast on a cam shaft, which. cam shaft car-vries a pulley around which is wound one or more times a controllingcable'. 18,,the two limbs of this cable passing beneath idler pulleys 19at the base of the frame and extending thence upwardly and aroundl'.pL1lley 20 fast on one end of a central transverse rock shaft 21(Fig. 3,) journaled'be- Til tween the cage-supporting pulleys 14, 14 insuitable hearings on the top crossbars 12; the cable 18 being fastenedto the periphery of the pulley 20 as by a staple 22. On the other end ofshaft 21 is a pulley 23, to the periphery of which is attached a cord orchain 24, the depending limbs of which are attached respectively to apair of handle levers 25 and 26 that project at right angles to theplane of the frame and are fulcrumed at their rear ends on a pin 27mounted in the lower ends of a pair of depending brackets 28 attached toone of the supporting bars 12. lVhen both of the handle levers 25 and 26are horizontal, the hoisting machine clutch is in intermediate orneutral position. When one handle lever is depressed, the controllingcable 18 is actuated in one direction to shift the clutch and rotate thewinding drum in one direction, the other handle lever beingsin'niltaneosuly raised above the horizontal position. lVhen the otherhandle lever is depressed, the clutch is shifted in the reversedirection, thereby rotating the winding drum in the reverse direction.Hence, when one of the handle levers 25 and 26 is depressed, thehoisting cable 16 elevates one of the cages and simultaneously lowersthe other; and when the other handle lever is depressed, the hoistingcable actnates the cages in the reverse direction.

The apparatus is also equipped with a safety dogging device operatingautomatically to prevent the possibility of accidental descent of aloaded cage the instant its as cending movement is arrested. Thismechanism is shown in detail in Fig. 2, and comprises a pair of doggingpawls 29 and 30 pivotally mounted on one of the cross-bars 12 andco-operating with the ratchets 15 and 15, respectively. These dogs areprovided with rearwardly extending tail pieces 29 and 30, the free endsof which, in the neutral position of the shaft 21 (which correspondswith the neutral position of the clutch of the hoisting machine)underlie the two ends of a segment plate 31 that is fast on the shaft21. hen the shaft 21 is rocked to throw in the clutch and elevate one ofthe cages, the dog pertaining to the safety ratchet of that cage isthrown out by the end of the segment disc 31 striking and depressing thetail of the dog, as shown at the left of Fig. 2; the other dog ridingidly over its ratchet which is turning relatively in the oppositedirection. lVhen the loaded cage has reached its destination, the dogguarding the other ratchet acts instantly by gravity to arrest itsdescent.

The apparatus as thus far described is substantially identical with thatdisclosed in my former Letters Patent above referred to; and I will nowproceed to describe my present improvement. consisting of an automaticframe are a pair of shafts 33 and 34.

mechanism for actuating the controlling cable 18 to throw the hoistingmachine clutch to neutral position and thus arrest winding movement atthe instant the loaded cage reaches its destination.

Jonrnaled in a pair of bearing brackets suspended from the cross-bars 12of the Fast on these shafts are a pair of oppositely er;- tcnding arms35, 86, the outer ends of which are connected by links 37, to the armsof all-shaped yoke 351 that is fast on the shaft 21. Also fast on theshafts 33 and 34 are a pair of oppositely extending arms 40, 41 disposedbelow and at an acute angle to the arms 35, 36 respectively and formedat their free ends with laterally extended lugs 40, 41. Arms and 41.)with shafts 83 and arms 36 and 41 with shaft 34 thus constitute ineffect a pair of elbow levers. Loosely pivoted on the shafts 33 and 34are a pair of downwardly inclined arms 42 and 43, the free end portionsof which are forked, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, and straddle thehoisting cable 16, said arms being retained in relative slidingengagement with the cable by Toss-pins The upper or shank portions ofthe arms 42 and 43 lie beneath and in the vertical plane of the lugs 40,41.

Adjustably clamped on the cable 16 at points a greater or less distanceabove the two cages are a pair of strikers 45, 46, each of which, as theloaded cage approaches its delivery position, strikes the lower free endof one of the arms 42 and 43, swinging the latter upwardly, and, throughcontact of the upper edge of the arm with its co-operating lug 40 or 41,raising the corresponding arm 40 or 41, rocking the corresponding shaft33 or 34, and through the arms 35 and 36 and links 37 and 38, and yoke39, IOClilIlg the shaft 21 and thereby actuating the controlling cable18 to throw out the clutch of the hoisting machine and so arrest thewinding action of the hoisting cable. At this instant the brake of thehoisting machine and the safety do 29 or 30 iiistantly become active tohold the loaded cage in its arrested position. This action at the sametime raises one of the handle levers 25 and 26 and simultaneously lowersthe other until both stand side by side in neutral position. To reversethe movement of the hoisting cable, the appropriate handle lever isdepressed, and on the elevation of the other cage, the automatic stopmechanism on that side operates in the manner already described. Adetailed structure of the strikers 45 and 46, which in practice hasproved highly efficient, is illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, and comprisesa pair of co-operating cable grips or clamps, one of which consists of abody 47 formed with integral apertured side flanges 48 and alongitudinally and transversely concave groove 49 in its face forming acable seat, and the other consisting of a body formed with integralapertured side flanges 51 and on its face with a longitudinally convexrib 52 having a transversely concave groove 52 adapted to press thecable into the seat 49 through the agency of clamp bolts 53 passedthrough the flanges of the two clamp members. This construc tion gripsthe cable very tightly by reason of putting a kink in the latter. Byloosening or withdrawing the bolts 53, the device can be adjusted todifierent positions on the cable.

In an automatic stop of the general character above described,experience has shown that an unduly rapid or accelerated movement of themechanism must be avoided to prevent over-throw that is, a movement ofthe parts beyond neutral position, which would throw into operation thereverse drive of the hoisting cable. The apparatus herein shown, throughthe use of the comparatively long actuating arms 42 and 43 operated bybuttons or strikers on the hoisting cable itself, reduces the speed ofthe controlling cable relatively to the speed of the hoisting cable andthe cages, and thus avoids the faulty operation above referred to. Itwill also be observed that, by actuating the arms 42, 43 from buttons orstrike-rs 011 the hoisting cable itself, the mechanism can be adjustedto automatically arrest the loaded cage at any story desired by simplyadjusting said buttons or strikers to proper positions on the hoistingcable above each cake.

I have herein shown and described one practical and approved physicalembodiment of the operative principle underlying the present invention,but it is manifest that the structural details and arrangement thereofmay be widely varied without departing from the substance of theinvention or sacrificing any of the advantages and utilities thereof;and hence, I do not limit the invention to the specific mechanism hereindisclosed for purposes of illustration, but reserve such variations,modifications and mechanical equivalents as fall within the spirit andpurview of the appended claims.

I claim 1. In a hoisting apparatus of the character described, thecombination of an upright frame, cages guided in said frame, pulleysmounted on said frame, a hoistin cable connected to said cages andguided over said pulleys, mechanism including a control cable forstarting, stopping and reversing the movement of said hoisting cable,manually operable means for actuating said control cable, and automaticmeans, including strikers movable with and at the speed of said cages,for actuating said control cable and thereby arresting upward travel ofsaid cages, said automatic means being operative to move said controlcable at a reduced speed relatively to that of 3. In a building materialhoist, the combination of an upright frame, cages guided in said frame,pulleys mounted on said frame, a hoisting cable connected to said cagesand guided over said pulleys, mechanism for starting, stopping andreversing the movement of said hoisting cable including a rock shaftjournaled on said frame, a pulley fast on said rock shaft, and a controlcable passing over and secured to said pulley, manually operable meansfor actuating said rock shaft, strikers mounted on said hoisting cableabove said cages, a pair of arms pivoted at their inner ends on saidframe and at their outer ends straddling said hoisting cable above saidstrikers, whereby said arms are adapted to be raised by said strikers,and mechanism operated by said arms on their rising movement foractuating saidrock shaft.

4. A hoisting apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the manuallyoperable means for actuating the rock shaft consists of a pulley fast onthe rock shaft, a pair of handle levers coaxially pivoted on the frame.and pull cords connecting the periphery of said pulley with said handlelevers, said parts being so associated that the lowering of eitherhandle lever simultaneously raises the other.

5. A hoisting apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein the mechanismoperated by the arms on their rising movements for actuating the rockshaft consists of a generally U-shaped yoke fast on the rock shaft, apair of elbow levers pivoted beneath sald rock shaft, links connectingthe upper arms of said elbow levers with the arms of said yoke, andcontact pieces on the lower arms of said elbow levers adapted for engaement by the striker actuated arms on tie rising movements of thelatter.

ALEXANDER I-I. IVILSON.

